umass boston accelerated bsn 2012
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I am looking into either the traditional BSN or accel BSN. Anyone want to share how either the schedules are like in either program? I have heard people are able to work during the program but that is different from person to person. I have a toddler and can't go without working. Would be great to get a sense of how the schedule is like or if anyone has a similar situation.

Hi crissy07,
I'm in the accelerated program. You CAN work. They'll discourage you but you can definitely do it. There are 2 students who have kids and are probably working 16-20 hrs a week. I'm working as a PCA about 2 days a week, and have plenty of time to do homework and keep my grades up. Here is what our schedule has been so far:

Summer: Tues/Wed/Thurs - classes all day
Fall: Mon and Wed - Class 8-10:50, plus 2 days of clinical for med/surg, mental health
Winter: M-F class/clinical 7-5 for 3 weeks
Spring: Class Tuesdays 11-830, 2 days of clinical for community/ pediatrics (some people only have pediatrics for 1/2 of the semester, others have it the entire time)
Summer: not sure yet!

We also had about 2 weeks off in between summer and fall, and about 2 between fall and winter. There are no breaks between winter-spring and spring-summer other than the March spring break.

Hi cwrn1,
I am planning to start the UMass accelerated program this summer. It is really helpful to know what the schedule has been for you so far! They told us at the info session that it is necessary to have a car because the clinicals can be anywhere in the area and not necessarily accessible by public transit. I am a little concerned about this because I don't have a car and don't particularly want to buy one. Can you tell me where your clinicals have been and if you know of students getting by without cars?

You can get by without a car, we have good size group who rely on public transportation or commuting. They try to accommodate those who don't have cars, and a lot of the placement are in the Boston hospitals. However there have been placements that you'd need a car (ie Brockton, Salem and Everett) so keep that in mind. I think it really depends on the amount of people in your group that will need to be placed near public transportation. I have a car so my clinicals have been mixed (BIDMC, VA in JP, North Shore Medical Center, St Elizabeths, Good Samaritan Brockton).

The program is extremely disorganized and they make a lot of last minute requests, so my best suggestion is to prepare to be flexible.

Hi cwrn1 ,
I was trying to send you a pm but haven't had enough posts to do so. Would you be able to either talk on the phone or through email. I have a bunch of questions I would love to ask you now that you've been in the program for a while. If not that's totally okay, just would love some more details and to hear some of your thoughts about how things really are.